Elon Musk Starship launch discussion on Twitter Spaces Summary
@SpaceXChat
Summarised transcript of Musk's recent subscriber-only Twitter Space on Starship.
"If we don't destroy the launchpad, it's a success"
"we're dying to get [booster 7] launched because there are hundreds of improvements in booster 9"
Q: are you still looking at LC39 at KSC?
A: We're still looking at 39a and building out crew launch capacity at 40. Need redundancy. And need to get past developmental stage at Starbase before we begin launching at the Cape.
"our concerns are similar to what the soviet N1 rocket faced: many high pressure engines, potential for domino effect if a single engine failure cascades"
"If it blows up, it'll be more of a fireball than an explosion. A very big fireball. It'll melt the steel and slag the launch pad."
"we will have a CO2 [engine] purge in flight"
"probably tomorrow will not be successful, if by success one means getting to orbit"
"we've got booster 9, ship 26 almost ready to go, and a significant cadence of rockets moving forward. In the long run, meaning 2 or 3 years we should achieve full and rapid reusability"
On orbital refueling: If we're docking with ourselves it's much easier than docking with the space station
"In order to pass [this] great filter, Mars must be self sustaining. If ships stop going to Mars, Mars civilization must not die out."
Q: How much did this particular starship cost to build?
A: It doesn't really matter. If you have a soap factory, your first bar of soap costs 10 million dollars. We see a path to a million or a few million dollars for over 100 tons to orbit.
Q: What made you decide not to soft land on a ship in the gulf?
A: Not possible to do this without legs and shifting the center of gravity.
Q: What are the things you're most concerned about tomorrow?
A: I have a list of concerns a mile long. You've got 33 engines that all need to work. If one doesn't work, it needs not to cause destruction of the vehicle.
Q: You've drastically increased the sensors and GSE, I feel like that doesn't get covered enough. Any GSE regrets?
A: We should have started with horizontal vacuum-jacketed tanks instead of trying to build our own. Even though stage 0 doesn't fly, it's just as important as stage 1 and 2.